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| Bill MacLachlan of Mawer Investment Mngmnt |
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| DON'T BUY | Loblaw Companies Ltd | L-T | 42.260 | Doesn’t expect any growth potential. Had been concerned with their inability to retool their supply chain regarding competition with Wal-Mart (WMT-N) and has made great progress, which has been reflected in the stock price. Doesn’t see it getting much stronger. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| SELL | Manitoba Telecom Services | MBT-T | 28.990 | Facing significant competition in pricing on the wireless side. Can’t see much growth potential. Good yield of 5.7% but can’t see anything else going for it. Better choices out there. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| HOLD | Rogers Communcations (B) | RCI.B-T | 36.930 | Companies in this space are facing huge competition but over the long haul, with increasing use of smart phones and the data (where the profit margin is), a lot of these companies are going to do quite well. Also increasing convergence of smart phones, TVs, internet, etc | 2010-11-17 | ||
| BUY | Toronto Dominion | TD-T | 73.030 | Likes Cdn banks. In a period of rising interest rates, which he doesn’t expect to happen soon, they might find a little squeeze in terms of their book. Expecting dividend increases over the next couple of years. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| HOLD | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 48.690 | Just increased their dividends. Doesn’t see a continuous boom in commodity prices but expects a retrenchment in prices. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Trans Canada Corp | TRP-T | 35.950 | Has been disappointing. Bit of a revolt because of the main line tolls from gas marketers. Lower natural gas prices are not good for them. Can’t see where they are going to get the growth. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| TOP PICK | Telus Corp | T-T | 46.400 | (Preferred A) Likes the free cash flow and dividends (currently over 4%).ROE of about 13%. Good growth potential despite all the competition. Has a new product called OpticTV, which has proven to be quite successful and will help them to compete. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| TOP PICK | TSX Group | X-T | 33.900 | With changes in pricing and the changes in markets, competition has been stabilized and is starting to diminish. 4.8% yield is supportable. Trading at 11X next year’s earnings. Reasonable dividend growth. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Yellow Media Inc | YLO-T | 6.060 | For a long term business plan, he just doesn’t see it. Information they provide is available free on line. A shrinking business that will have shrinking margins. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| DON'T BUY | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Natural Gas. Recent technological improvements have meant that reserves are coming out in abundance so can’t see prices going up from here. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| TOP PICK | Brookfield Asset Management (A) | BAM.A-T | 30.270 | Likes the way they diversified into global asset management. Good management. North America’s largest hydro producer. Tremendous portfolio of Class A real estate. Really a global asset infrastructure play. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| BUY | PetroBakken Energy | PBN-T | 19.510 | Significant position in the Bakken play in Saskatchewan. Reasonable value. Have some concerns for longer term on the price of oil. As a small portion of a portfolio, it is a reasonable entry. | 2010-11-17 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 30.260 | (A Top Pick May 30/08. Down 36%.) Hadn't expected the meltdown to be as extensive, pervasively or as quickly as it was. Was overdone. Canadian banks are an excellent place to be. Buy. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| BUY | Canadian National R.R. | CNR-T | 41.730 | (Market Call Minute.) Extremely well run company. Very reasonable debt situation. Good proxy for the overall Canadian economy. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Canadian Western Bank | CWB-T | 11.300 | Has had a very difficult time. Their focus is primarily in the west and primarily in the resource area. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Goldcorp Inc | G-T | 33.600 | Gold stocks have under performed the commodity. He feels that gold stocks are very overpriced. Priced to $1000 to $1200 an ounce in gold. If you want exposure, you are better to buy gold itself through an ETF such as SPDR Gold (GLD-N). | 2008-12-11 | ||
| BUY | Great West Lifeco | GWO-T | 20.300 | You should be quite safe. Likes this company. He owns Power Corp. instead, which owns this company. Very conservatively managed. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| DON'T BUY | H&R Real Estate Inv Trust | HR.UN-T | 6.650 | Feels REITs are paying out distributions that are unsustainable. Building the Bow in Calgary for Encana (ECA-T) and have a long-term lease. Despite that they are having a tremendous leap difficult time in getting the financing to continue the construction. Be cautious. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| BUY | Husky Energy | HSE-T | 31.160 | Quite optimistic about this one. There is always the possibility of it being taken over by its primary shareholder. Conservatively managed. Excellent balance sheet. One of the more conservative ways to play the energy situation. | 2008-12-11 | ||
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| DON'T BUY | Kinross Gold | K-T | 19.320 | Gold stocks have under performed the commodity. He feels that gold stocks are very overpriced. Priced to $1000 to $1200 an ounce in gold. If you want exposure, you are better to buy gold itself through an ETF such as SPDR Gold (GLD-N). | 2008-12-11 | ||
| HOLD | Labrador Iron Ore | LIF.UN-T | 19.550 | All the metals have been hammered. Distribution is not necessarily safe, but doubts it will be cut to zero. Have some tremendous competitive advantages. Low cost producer and ship globally. Will be a good source of return if you wait 3 to 5 years. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| HOLD | Loblaw Companies Ltd | L-T | 34.000 | (Market Call Minute.) Has performed amazingly well over the last little while. There is a possibility that Weston (WN-T) will take it back in the fold. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 18.980 | Disappointed that they hadn't protected themselves given the PPN notes they were selling. Financially strong, arguably the strongest financial institution in North America. Safe dividend. Very well run company. Good price. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| DON'T BUY | National Bank of Canada | NA-T | 29.810 | Although they have cut dividends in the past, he doesn't think they are at risk here. Most of their business is in Quebec, which will be hit at least as hard as Ontario. Prefers others. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| SELL | Nortel | NT-T (Dead) | 0.475 | This is a great opportunity to take some tax loss selling. Odds of any significant recovery are slim to nil. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| SELL | Precision Drilling | PD-T | 7.650 | This is a company that he would not be in at all. It is so sensitive to the cap X of the energy companies. Thinks it will be a few years before this one returns to its former levels. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| BUY | Pembina Pipeline Corp | PPL-T | 13.520 | One of the better names in the pipeline sector. Barring any major capital needs, you have a good return scenario and your capital is going to be reasonably well protected. 11.1% yield. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| TOP PICK | Royal Bank | RY-T | 33.960 | Thinks they are the strongest financial institution in Canada. Has a tremendous franchise. Thinks their US assets are manageable. Incredibly cheap at 9 X next year's earnings. Yield of 5.6%. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Shawcor Ltd. (A) | SCL.A-T | 15.740 | (A Top Pick May 30/08. Down 55%.) Very involved in the oil industry so got hit with the cutbacks. Great ROE. Should continue to do well over the long haul. When it starts to recover, that will be a good sign that major companies are planning to increase their cap X again. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| TOP PICK | SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. | SNC-T | 38.100 | Canada's largest engineering company and they operate globally. Infrastructure is a key building block in governments’ attempts to stimulate the economy. No debt and lots of cash. ROE is about 27% for 2008. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| TOP PICK | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 25.970 | Good cash flow. They have a tremendous advantage in their reserves. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 5.270 | At this stage, he wouldn't go into this one. If you want mining stocks for diversification, he would look at some of the global behemoths but you could wait another year or two. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| BUY | Trans Canada Corp | TRP-T | 32.640 | (Market Call Minute.) Well run and a good dividend. Good growth potential. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| HOLD | Ace Aviation Holdings Inc. (B) | ACE.B-T | 6.570 | In the process of liquidating their assets. If you own, he would be inclined to hold. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| DON'T BUY | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Real Return Bonds: Have been eviscerated over the last several months because “real return” is your return after inflation. Inflation expectations were high 6 to 9 months ago but have fallen off a cliff since deflation became a possibility. High-quality corporate bonds will give you a better return. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| SELL | Gildan Activewear Inc. | GIL-T | 11.600 | Disappointed in the ability of the management to correctly communicate what earnings are going to be like and what their plans are. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| HOLD | Bell Aliant | BA-T | 22.500 | (Market Call Minute.) Whole regional telecom industry is going to face some difficulties. Really don't know what's going to happen in the post BCE-Teachers situation. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Brookfield Asset Management (A) | BAM.A-T | 17.460 | (A Top Pick May 30/08. Down 49%.) Their exposure to the US high-end office market took the stock down. Very high quality assets. Consider tax loss selling. | 2008-12-11 | ||
| Comment | United States Steel | X-N | 37.220 | Have gone through hard, hard times but are now much leaner and meaner and more efficient. Thinks there will be a lot of volatility before the details of infrastructure come out. | 2008-12-11 | ||
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| DON'T BUY | Barrick Gold | ABX-T | 23.640 | If you believe the credit crisis is going to get worse, gold will move up. He believes the government's have a handle on the credit crisis, and if so, then the lustre will come off gold. He is not a big fan of gold. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| BUY | Agrium | AGU-T | 37.540 | At current levels, Agrium (AGU-T) and Potash (POT-T) are both looking compelling. Difficulty in that the fundamentals of both companies are overwhelmed by the credit crisis and fears in some circles that agriculture will not have access to enough credit to be able to farm at the same pace as in the past. Could go lower before going higher. Good for a 5-year hold. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| Comment | BCE Inc. | BCE-T | 35.100 | The weaker Cdn$ means the US banks involved will have to access less US$ but won't be the critical factor on whether the deal is done or not. The major players say the deal will be done and he feels the same. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 39.490 | (A Top Pick May 30/08. Down 19%.) Has been weak, but not as weak as the market. Solid situation. Good Buy. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| TOP PICK | First Capital Realty | FCR-T | 18.350 | One of the largest owners of anchored regional shopping centres in fast growing metropolitan areas. 7% yield. Well-managed. Good long-term play. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| HOLD | Husky Energy | HSE-T | 33.000 | Very well run. Likes that there is always the possibility of a takeout by the controlling shareholder. One of the better larger energy companies out there. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| Comment | Labrador Iron Ore | LIF.UN-T | 30.700 | Demand for China will probably decrease. Thinks the distribution is likely safe. Low cost producer and well run. Not a guarantee as commodity prices could fluctuate wildly from here. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 26.010 | Had held in quite well until just a couple of weeks ago. Came under some pressure in terms of their exposure in the US. He feels there are no more skeletons in their closet. Triple A company. Good time to add to your position. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| Comment | Petro-Canada | PCA-T | 27.800 | Prefers Suncor (SU-T), which is a better operator. Good value at current levels, but thinks Suncor is better. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| BUY | Potash Corp of Saskatchewan | POT-T | 85.990 | At current levels, Agrium (AGU-T) and Potash (POT-T) are both looking compelling. Difficulty in that the fundamentals of both companies are overwhelmed by the credit crisis and fears in some circles that agriculture will not have access to enough credit to be able to farm at the same pace as in the past. Could go lower before going higher. Good for a 5-year hold. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| TOP PICK | Power Corp | POW-T | 27.700 | Chief assets are Investors Group (IGM-T) and Great West Life (GWO-T). There has been no news from Great West of any write-offs. Investors Group has been hit by the downturn in the market but well positioned to benefit on the bounce back. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| BUY | Russel Metals | RUS-T | 20.030 | Exposed to the overall decline in commodity prices and fears of a slowdown. Not a typical metals company, more of a distribution arm, which gives them a little more protection. If you have a 3 to 5 year time horizon it is a compelling value. Good yield and well managed. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Shawcor Ltd. (A) | SCL.A-T | 16.750 | (A Top Pick May 30/08. Down 51%.) Difficulty here is their dependency on the energy industry overall. Well capitalized and virtually no debt. Good for the long haul. Good Buy. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| STRONG BUY | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 26.200 | Likes this one. Need a reasonably long time frame for it. Security of energy supply will continue to be a big issue in the US. Cream of the crop. You know the reserves are there and demand will continue. Screaming Buy if you have a 5 plus years horizon. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| HOLD | Transalta Corp | TA-T | 25.140 | Dividend is likely safe. Have a high debt load but have been paying out a fairly high percentage of their earnings as dividends for some time. In an area where the population growth is going to be above the national average. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 12.540 | Although it seems like the central banks and governments are getting things in place, we don't know how severe the recession will be. This is particularly important for mining stocks and commodities plays. He would give it at least another quarter or two. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| Comment | Toromont Industries | TIH-T | 22.580 | Some exposure to the housing industry but very well diversified. Financially solid. Compression business is solid as well. Its fundamentals are going to be overwhelmed by the credit winds. 3 to 5 year horizon, it's a buy. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| HOLD | Talisman Energy | TLM-T | 11.000 | Likes this company. Well managed. Good for the long haul. Won't rebound until there is some change in the credit environment and some sign as to the duration of the recession. If you own, you could add to your position. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| Comment | Trans Canada Corp | TRP-T | 35.750 | Versus Enbridge (ENB-T)? Sees greater growth through Enbridge. Have been a little more nimble. Besides the dividend, there is growth as well. Both are solid companies and will be a round for some time. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| HOLD | TSX Group | X-T | 28.000 | Although volatility and volumes help them, historically things flat line and are quiet for some time after. This would be bad for them. There will likely be pressure to reduce costs for some transactions. Likes it for the long haul. | 2008-10-23 | ||
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| TOP PICK | Cineplex Inc | CGX-T | 13.060 | Controls 64% of Canada's movie screens. Pays 70% of its earnings out in distributions. Roughly 10% yield, which is sustainable. Have tax pools so that in 2010 they won't be taxed until several years after. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| Comment | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Banks’ Preferred Shares: Dividends are safe. He prefers common stocks because the dividend increases. Could take a good 18 to 24 months for a return to the normal credit relationship and a move up to normal pricing for banks’ preferreds. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Brookfield Asset Management (A) | BAM.A-T | 22.760 | (A Top Pick May 30/08. Down 37 %.) Has performed pretty much in line with the market. Has been hit because of their exposure to real estate, especially high-end office real estate in New York. A lot of diversification. Well-managed. Likely to have a year or 2 of relative weakness. Good Buy. | 2008-10-23 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Barrick Gold | ABX-T | 34.950 | If the US is forced to raise interest rates, which he thinks is unlikely, it would be bad for gold in US dollar terms. Thinks gold is not likely going to be a great place to be as a longer-term investment over the next several years. Thinks the reparation will occur to the US financial structure. Thinks the US dollar is close to bottom. Gold as a commodity is the better buy and the premium for gold through a gold stock is outrageous. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| WAIT | Agrium | AGU-T | 43.720 | Dropped because an analyst got nervous and sounded the alarm. Be Cautious. He likes it but thinks they may go lower. You could do some buying around these levels but don’t get the whole position and don’t overweight. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| WAIT | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 5.200 | This is a good entry point. Even if you discount regional jet orders, turbo props, business jets and you assume flat line growth in rail, there is still good value in the stock. We are going to see a slowdown in the demand for short haul aircraft. Good over the longer haul, but it’s not going to run away on you. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| BUY | Bank of Montreal | BMO-T | 42.500 | (and Banks in general) Don’t have everything in the banks. The only part of the TSX that have been up in the last quarter is the financials. The dividends are safe and there is a long history of dividend increases. Banks should be no more than 20 or 30% of porfolio. Focus on dividend-paying stocks. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| TOP PICK | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 36.470 | Great example of a great Canadian company. One of the best capitalized insurance companies in the world. Can benefit from the US financial crisis. What for acquisitions. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| WAIT | Nova Chemicals Corp. | NCX-T | 20.570 | This is dependant on the commodity cycle. It has more to go on the downside. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| SELL | Petro-Canada | PCA-T | 32.250 | Sleepy money is what you invest in this. Cut their position in the news of the fort hills project and invested in Suncor. They will be out of this stock in the next quarter. The execution is what concerns them. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| HOLD | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 66.030 | Stock has been devastated because of concerns over their ability to grow at the pace they have been, given the meltdown in the US financial sector and the fact that a lot of financial types are big users of their products. Hold – the damage has been done. It will continue to be tremendously volatile, but it is a classic growth story. They always get hit in these kind of markets but this is a company that has a technological edge that they are going to be able to maintain. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| TOP PICK | SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. | SNC-T | 34.050 | Likes it because they are involved in infrastructure development and there is so much to be done in Asia. They have no debt, excellent management team and are one of the largest engineering and management companies in the world. Have been adding at current levels. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Transalta Corp | TA-T | 27.500 | The perennial question is how safe is the dividend. There have been on-going debt concerns and an aborted deal they tried to do a while ago. He is concerned about the sustainability of the dividend. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| VAGUE | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 23.080 | Their sector is the largest hit. As a small holding this is likely a reasonable entry level, but don’t expect a return to the levels we have seen over the last year. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| TOP PICK | Cineplex Inc | CGX-T | 13.820 | It has tax pools so that when it converts it wont be taxed for some time, yield at over 9%, 70% of earnings pay distribution. Tremendous income oriented stock. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Yamana Gold Inc. | YRI-T | 7.500 | Gold companies are making money at $800/oz. A month ago he would have put high odds of inflation rearing its ugly head. But now he thinks it will be deflation. He thinks gold will not do well. They don’t buy gold companies or ETFs. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| DON'T BUY | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Silver: There is a commodity side to Silver. There is increasing demand for Silver in China for Jewelry. But this demand is overwhelmed in this market by the financial demand as an investment. The problem with Silver and Gold is that there is no reason for them to rebound. Only buy it to give as a gift. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| Comment | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Anticipation is sometimes better than reality. The market anticipated the passing of the bailout bill, but then started to realize how the recession would hit Canada. The market had some reality therapy towards the close today. The commodity peak has clearly come and gone, but does not agree that the commodity boom is over. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| DON'T BUY | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Slver: There is a commodity side to Silver. There is increasing demand for Silver in China for Jewelry. But this demand is overwhelmed in this market by the financial demand as an investment. The problem with Silver and Gold is that there is no reason for them to rebound. Only buy it to give as a gift. | 2008-10-03 | ||
| BUY | Pengrowth Energy | PGF-T | 14.400 | It’s a solid company. Distribution is safe, but what if 6 months from now oil is $50 a barrel and if this happened they would have some problems, but they are the strongest of the sector. | 2008-10-03 | ||
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| BUY | Agrium | AGU-T | 95.240 | Strong potential. Being driven by the rapid demand for the increase in commodities. Also the rapid demand and putting more land under the plow. Longer-term prospects are solid. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| TOP PICK | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 47.570 | Think they are focusing on the wealth management side where they have been weak in Canada. Would look for them to take advantage of the debacle in the US. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| HOLD | Canadian Western Bank | CWB-T | 23.980 | Really likes this bank. There is exposure to the energy sector, which is boom and bust. Underneath that story there is a larger story of huge demographic growth in Western Canada. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| TOP PICK | Loblaw Companies Ltd | L-T | 30.460 | He sees the Book Value at $20/$22 a share and the real estate is likely undervalued in that. The market has priced in the worst-case scenario. There are a number of things being done that will provide improvement. Relatively low risk. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| PARTIAL BUY | Nexen Inc | NXY-T | 32.950 | Missed their earnings estimates sold the stock dropped. Little riskier than some of the senior energy stocks because of its international focus. This means market is going to punish it more when it doesn't perform. Very well run company. He would Hold for the long haul and would be tempted to add a little to a position. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| Comment | Royal Bank | RY-T | 44.350 | Q: Sell this one for a tax loss and going into Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T)? A: From a tax point of view, he would have no disagreement with this. In 5, 10, 15 years both banks are going to look like great investments. On the other hand, you could add BNS to your existing portfolio. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| BUY | SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. | SNC-T | 52.930 | SNC Lavalin (SNC-T) vs. Stantec (STN-T). Owns both, but prefers SNC at this time because of their global reach, infrastructure and expertise. Their order book is full to bursting. Their major infrastructure projects are going to have to go ahead. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| BUY | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 54.500 | Heavily geared to the price of oil. The cost of getting those assets out of the ground has increased dramatically. Increasingly there have been concerns in the US about dirty oil from the tar sands but the need for oil will trump. If you were looking for one over the next five years this would be it. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| TOP PICK | Toronto Dominion | TD-T | 58.360 | Has executed its plan flawlessly. Had very limited exposure to the debacle in the US and yet has been tarred by the same brush. Recently increased its dividend giving you an idea of its financial strength. Cheap at approximately 10X earnings. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| BUY | Thomson Reuters Corp | TRI-T | 30.780 | Has been hit because of their dependence on the financial services sector. Trading at about 8X EBITDA. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| Comment | UTS Energy | UTS-T (Dead) | 5.530 | More speculative than the kind of stocks he usually focuses on. Well managed. Trading at a pretty reasonable valuation compared to its peers. Will be volatile. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| HOLD | Duvernay Oil Corp | DDV-T | 81.920 | Being acquired by Shell. If you own, hold on for the $83. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| Comment | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Thinks gold stocks are a very expensive way to play gold. He would prefer the ETFs. Thinks it quite likely that gold will breach the $1000 level and will move higher. Gold should only be about 10%-15% of anyone's portfolio. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| Comment | Brookfield Asset Management (A) | BAM.A-T | 31.700 | Still has to get out from under its office problems. It will be some time before that real estate arm picks up. | 2008-07-17 | ||
| HOLD | BCE Inc. | BCE-T | 35.050 | Thinks deal will close at $42.75 and all will occur as expected. Sit tight, huge breakup fee if deal fails. Paying Bondholders to mitigate their risk would be cheaper. Credit markets are now a little better behaved. | 2008-05-30 | ||
| TOP PICK | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 49.750 | Managed to escape much of the credit problems, and the ability of their management in risk management to steer clear of these issues. They are the most international of the banks. Are a bank that are the most efficient of the banks in their domestic network, 4% dividend, should significantly outperform the market in the 3-5 year horizon. | 2008-05-30 | ||
| SELL | Breakwater Resources | BWR-T (Dead) | 0.670 | Pretty poor performance and not much is going to change that. | 2008-05-30 | ||
| HOLD | Encana Corp | ECA-T | 89.510 | After it splits, keep the gas. | 2008-05-30 | ||
| BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 38.370 | They like it. This is a good entry point. Internationally they are tremendously successful. Made a brilliant acquisition in Hancock and executed it well. Change of CEO is a risk. | 2008-05-30 | ||
| BUY | Power Financial Corp | PWF-T | 35.620 | Market are concerned about financial companies. Very comfortable with recent management moves they made. | 2008-05-30 | ||
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| HOLD | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 137.410 | This kind of stock gives them nightmares because they don’t own it. Every time they looked at buying it they felt the valuation was too high but are proven wrong. Is a high beta stock, moving much more than the market – down or up. It’s risky because of its dominance with the blackberry – not guaranteed going forward. Brilliant in their execution. | 2008-05-30 |
